Firefighters battle a blaze that burned a fabric shop, upstairs apartments and a neighboring boutique in Philadelphia on Saturday. / Peter Tobia, AP

by Katharine Lackey, USA TODAY

by Katharine Lackey, USA TODAY

Philadelphia's fire department is mourning its third loss in a year after a veteran fire captain was killed in a blaze Saturday night.

Capt. Michael Goodwin, 53, died Saturday when the roof of a three-story building in the city's Fabric Row area collapsed beneath his feet, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. A second firefighter, Andrew Godlinski, suffered burns to his hands as he tried to rescue Goodwin.

Dozens of firefighters at the scene of Saturday's blaze saluted as the body of Goodwin, who had been with the department for 29 years, was carried from the building.

Speaking to reporters late Saturday night, Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said Goodwin was his friend and "a ladder man. A firefighter's firefighter."

"He's the kind of guy who looked out for his folks - a big guy," Ayers added.

Saturday's fatal fire came nearly a year after a warehouse blaze killed Capt. Robert Neary, 59, and Daniel Sweeney, 25, on April 9, the Inquirer reported.

"We have a department that is wounded," Ayers told reporters. "We have scars that are fresh, and indeed they have now been reopened."

Mayor Michael Nutter on Sunday asked residents to pray for Goodwin, his family and other grieving firefighters.

"We must never forget the grave risks that these heroic public servants take every day at a moment's notice on behalf of us all," he said.

Goodwin is survived by a wife and two grown children, Ayers said.

At the scene Sunday afternoon, a fire hose planted in the middle of the street sprayed a jet of water onto the remains of the building, which had collapsed into a pile that stretched over the sidewalk in between two other three-story row homes.

At Goodwin's fire station deep in south Philadelphia, the flag was at half-staff and bouquets were clustered on and around a wooden bench along with a large toy fire truck and ladder.

Saturday's fire was first reported at 5:33 p.m. in a fabric store. The blaze then spread to the building's upstairs apartments and a neighboring boutique.

Jack B. Fabrics owner, Bruce Blumenthal told the Inquirer that he unsuccessfully tried to douse the flames with an extinguisher after he found a box of collars and cuffs ablaze in the basement. Blumenthal said he thinks the fire may have been electrical in nature and that it appeared to have started in a wall.

Blumenthal and the owner of the boutique next door, called Urban Princess, said everyone in both buildings was able to escape the blaze.